Catholic College Wodonga principal Darren Hovey leaving at end of the year

Mr Hovey will finish up as the school's principal after eight successful years to return to the school where he previously worked, Wangaratta's Galen College.

He and his family remained living in Wangaratta when he was appointed CCW principal in 2014, replacing David Seiter.

"It was a chance to live and lead in a town I call home," Mr Hovey said.

"I'm in the car two hours every day, but when you love where you work it is not a hard drive.

"When I started here our youngest (Georgia) was in kinder and she is now in year seven at Galen.

"It's a great chance to spend more time with family and get off the road."

His wife Bel is also a teacher at Galen College with its present principal Bernard Neal retiring after more than a decade in the role.

Mr Hovey previously worked at Ararat's Marian College before coming to the North East.

He has worked in Catholic education since 1998 with his first teaching job at a primary school.

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Among his highlights at CCW was the recognition by Cambridge University for being among the 100 most innovative schools in the world for two years.

It was one of four in Australia with an independent off-timetable learning program titled Horizon and long-established learning mentor program capturing the attention of Cambridge judges.

"It was huge," Mr Hovey said.

"How they found out about us and where that came from we've still got no idea to this day."

Also providing a sense of satisfaction was how the school came through the initial year of COVID-19 which resulted in students doing 13 weeks of remote learning.

"The amount of support we put in to make sure our kids and staff were looked after was next level," he said.

"It's going to have to be that way for a long time.

"But our VCE results were great and as was that result we don't talk about a lot, the number of kids who have got into apprenticeships.

"Kids are staying local and they are questioning what happens if I go to uni and I'm only there for a day and I've got to do four days online."

Outside of work, Mr Hovey is a former Wangaratta Rovers under-18s coach and he is helping out at Tarrawingee this year where one of his sons plays.

CCW deputy principal Shaun Mason departs shortly to take up the principal position at Benalla's FCJ College.

CCW has 1234 students, including 220 enrolled in year seven.

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